New mattress is uncomfortable

MrHippo

Would be really grateful if anyone can give me some advice about my new mattress...

I bought a pretty expensive pocketsprung kingsize mattress (manufactured by a company said to be good quality by some folk on MSE) which was delivered last Wednesday. Since then neither my partner nor I have had a decent night's sleep and my back has been aching all day. I also don't find the mattress all that comfortable to lie on and now I'm starting to dread going to bed! Trouble is it's hard to pinpoint exactly what's making it feel uncomfortable. I've also got no idea how to tell whether it's that the mattress doesn't suit us, we need time to get used to it or whether it's faulty. One thing I have noticed is that it seems a little too short (there's about 2" between the end of the mattress and the bed frame) and perhaps too wide - you have to push down on it quite hard to get it to fit in the frame and it's such a tight fit width-wise there's barely any room along the sides to tuck in the sheet. Could this be causing the springs to act strangely or a sign the mattress isn't quite up to standard?

I'm at a loss to know what to do really...any suggestions or comments would be most welcome.
Thanks,
MrH

ariarnia

I've actually noticed that loads of matresses are 'short'. I always lose my pillows and ended up buying a bolster to fill the gap.

jkgray

Short compared to the size you specified at the time you bought it or it just doesn't fit your bed properly?

If the former you obviously have some come back against the retailer, I suspect however it is the latter in which case you have simply bought the wrong size mattress!

cybergibbons

Any change the frame is an Ikea one?

MrHippo

Both the bed and the mattress are kingsize, I bought them at the same time from the same retailer (not Ikea). I've measured the mattress and it's about 6'4" where as I believe kingsize should be 6'6"? However, I've read that with a lot of mattresses a small discrepancy in size is normal due to the way they're made - just not sure whether 2" is normal or not...

*j*

I've read that mattresses do start a little undersize, due to settling in storage and transportation.

Indeed a king-sized one I had delivered a few weeks ago was a couple of inches short and narrow when first put on the bed.

I didn't think about it again, but have just been to look and it is now the right size!

I know this doesn't solve your uncomfortable problem, though.

*j*

ariarnia

jkgray wrote: »

Short compared to the size you specified at the time you bought it or it just doesn't fit your bed properly?

If the former you obviously have some come back against the retailer, I suspect however it is the latter in which case you have simply bought the wrong size mattress!

well I have a standard (cheap/basic metal slats) single bed from argos, a standard (cheap/basic pine slats) double bed and a deep (expensive/gift cast iron duvan base) kingsize. the matress for the single was bought seporately, but was nothing special (only cost about £40) the matress with the double was bought with the double as part of a package deal (again bed and matress was only £200 and a bit for delivery so cheap still) and the kindsize matress was bought from the same dealer as the bed on his recomendation (£3000+ for bed and matress)

All 3 of them are a little 'short' in so much as there is about 3 inches of space when butted up with the headboard at the foot - trouble is the matress migrates down to the footboard with use and then the gap at the top eats my pillows!

MrHippo

Crikey, 3" seems like a lot. Mine's jammed in so tight at the sides that I doubt it's going to move down so that's one good thing at least!

ic

I bought a kingsize pocket sprung mattress for use on an existing divan base, and it was too soft - it just collapsed in the middle causing roll together with my partner, it was like we were both sleeping on slopes away from one another. I took to desperation and ahead of buying a new bed frame hacked at the divan, removing the top sprung layer and replacing it with chip board screwed straight to the frame. Now the bed is perfect - its firm, with no roll together whatsoever - the mattress offers just the right amount of give. Only downer is the bed is now 3 inches lower, so our bed side cabinets are bit higher than they were - I could always fix this by jacking up the base at some point.

What I'm saying is perhaps it isn't only the mattress to blame and the bed frame itself isn't suitable as this is also new?

MrHippo

Not sure what could be unsuitable about the frame. It's solid pine with slats (not sprung), it has a central rail along the middle which has a couple of feet to support it. I also got them to supply me with extra slats so there's only about 2-3cm between them.

Tim_Deegan

MrHippo wrote: »

Would be really grateful if anyone can give me some advice about my new mattress...

I bought a pretty expensive pocketsprung kingsize mattress (manufactured by a company said to be good quality by some folk on MSE) which was delivered last Wednesday. Since then neither my partner nor I have had a decent night's sleep and my back has been aching all day. I also don't find the mattress all that comfortable to lie on and now I'm starting to dread going to bed! Trouble is it's hard to pinpoint exactly what's making it feel uncomfortable. I've also got no idea how to tell whether it's that the mattress doesn't suit us, we need time to get used to it or whether it's faulty. One thing I have noticed is that it seems a little too short (there's about 2" between the end of the mattress and the bed frame) and perhaps too wide - you have to push down on it quite hard to get it to fit in the frame and it's such a tight fit width-wise there's barely any room along the sides to tuck in the sheet. Could this be causing the springs to act strangely or a sign the mattress isn't quite up to standard?

I'm at a loss to know what to do really...any suggestions or comments would be most welcome.
Thanks,
MrH

You didn't say what type your old mattress was, but I presume that it wasn't pocket sprung??

It is actually very common for people changing from a mattress that doesn't give very good support, to one that gives far superior support, to experience back ache for a few weeks. This is because your back has compensated for the poor mattress, and will take time to adjust to the better support. I know this sounds crazy, but it is actually true.


As for you mattress, they aren't precision engineering, they are upholstery. And therefore there can be some variation in size. However as someone else said, the fillings should settle out in a while.